Vignettes from Westchester
by Poke-it-with-a-Stick
Summary: X-men: First Class. A series of drabbles based off German words and mostly revolving around Charles and Erik. Some slash
1. koennen

**So, whilst being in another country, with no internet connection, for a month, I decided to write a series of First Class drabbles. This was ostensibly because writing a complete story in only 100 words is a good discipline. It's actually because I'm too lazy to bother with things like plot and sustaining a tone over multiple chapters. All of these stories are inspired by a word chosen at random from my German dictionary (why? Because German is an amazing language), and most of them revolve around Charles and Erik and their crazy relationship. There's a bit of slash, although mostly of the blink-and-you'll-miss-it sort. **

**This first installment involves Erik thinking he's a monster, and Charles disagreeing. Also, knives. **

**koennen (to be able to) **

**Conditional form: koennte (I could)**

When they first met, Erik told Charles not to trust him, that he was dangerous, a Frankenstein's monster. Their shared aims made them allies, not friends.

He didn't take the point, so Erik made it again later, with a knife hovering unsupported at Charles' throat.

"I could," he said steadily, metal just touching flesh.

"So could I," said Charles, finger at his temple. "But I won't. And you've never killed a man who didn't, so to speak, deserve it. That's what sets you apart from Shaw."

_I didn't say anything about Shaw_, thought Erik, but he let the knife fall.


	2. streng

**I was intending to upload these at a rate of one per day, but I'm going to be away from the internet for another week, and my connection's currently playing up anyway, so you're getting several all at once. **

**This installment takes place during the training montage, and involves angst (which, I warn you now, there will be a lot of in this series; it's pretty much the only thing I can write) and also cookies. **

**streng (severe, strict)**

Charles was continually astonished at how strict Erik was with himself, movements sharply contained in contrast with Charles' lazy sprawl. Charles couldn't resist taking the last cookie. Erik ran for an hour every morning.

The reason wasn't hard to guess. Erik had spent his childhood in camps, always controlled by others, never his own person. Now, he wanted influence over the small things; what he wore and ate, as though by doing so, he could keep hold of the big things too.

Even understanding this, Charles couldn't help smiling when he finally persuaded Erik to take the last cookie himself.


	3. Bauchschmerzen

**The world really doesn't need more beach scene angst, but here's some nonetheless. **

**Bauchschmerzen (stomach ache)**

The pain of the coin passing through his skull was excruciating, but vanished instantly when Shaw died, leaving only an insignificant throb beneath Charles' ribs. It remained there throughout the confrontation on the beach, below the sharp agony of the bullet and the creeping terror when he lost feeling in his legs. If he thought about it, he simply assumed it was some sort of stomach ache brought on by the day's horrors.

It took two weeks of the dull throb and the knowledge that Erik wasn't coming back for him to realise it was his heart that was aching.


	4. kraft

**In which there is more angst (are you starting to see a recurring theme here?), and also foreshadowing. **

**kraft (by virtue of)**

"We made it," said Erik as they jolted along the road towards the Soviet general's mansion. "By virtue of your abilities, Charles."

"Hardly virtuous, my friend," replied Charles. Erik could see his guilt at using his powers to fool the soldiers, because he considered it underhand, despite the validity of their intended goal.

Erik wanted to tell him that sometimes, the end justified the means; even that, however wrong Charles' actions might be, his power still made him brilliant, beautiful. But he knew Charles would argue, so he kept silent. That wasn't an argument they needed to have just then.


	5. die Entschädigung

**And now for something completely different... **

**die Entschädigung (compensation)**

It was all Alex's fault. Or so Sean said, despite being the one who _accepted_ the bet to shatter the room's windows using sound waves, without harming the priceless china lining the walls.

"You realise that the compensation would be more than you'll earn in your life?" said Charles. This actually appeared to worry them, because the usually recalcitrant Alex suddenly turned enormous puppy-dog eyes on him and said, apparently sincerely, "Professor, we're both to blame. It was an idiotic thing to do and we're sorry."

Charles was so staggered that he entirely forgot to arrange a suitable punishment.


	6. der Honig

**der Honig (honey)**

Shaw slammed him into the wall, shattering the glass. Far away, Charles' voice yelled encouragement, but Erik barely heard it. Shaw had begun speaking again, and he possessed a hypnotic quality that Charles, for all his psychic trickery, could never hope to match.

"Everything I did, I did for you, Erik."

The words trickled like honey into his ears, smooth and beguiling and smothering all rational thought.

"Join me. Together, we could do anything."

Sticky like honey too, difficult to escape. For a long moment, Erik genuinely considered it.

Then he remembered that honey was traditionally used to preserve corpses.


	7. die Tüte

**Aaaaaaand further angst. In my defence, this one kinda sorta has a happy ending. **

**That's it for now; more updates when I get home/have a functioning internet connection again. **

**die Tüte (bag) **

The thing that surprised Charles the most about their long recruiting trips was Erik's ability to pack his entire life into a single bag. His own luggage was stuffed with the miscellaneous and unnecessary: several too many pairs of trousers; the chocolate he couldn't go without. Erik's contained exactly as much as he needed and no more; his only luxury a small chess set.

Later, Charles saw that Erik had compartmentalised his mind in the same way: pain in one box, anger in another. Some, like joy, were never intended to be opened.

Charles went ahead and did it anyway.


	8. der Chor

**I lied about my update schedule. Sorry. Here, have a batch more drabbles, including far too much random domestic fluff. **

**der Chor (choir)**

Erik tossed and turned, kept awake, of all things, by terminology. His English was flawless, and yet he couldn't think of the correct word for the unit that he, Charles and the other mutants had become. 'Team' was too impersonal, 'squad' too military. 'Band' made them sound like Robin Hood etc., 'group' like an orchestra, and 'sodding nuisance', though tempting, only applied to the younger mutants. The closest Erik could get was 'choir': all singing different parts, sometimes conflicting but always, eventually, in harmony.

He did not consider, or did not want to, that the word he needed was 'family'.


	9. der Schall

**I have been won over by the fanon that Sean spent most of the film stoned. I don't see any evidence for it, I just think it's hilarious. **

**der Schall (sound)**

It was the music that woke Erik. That and the shattering glass. He tried to ignore it, but when the drunken singing started, he leapt up and stormed down the corridor. Goddamnit, why couldn't Charles control those kids?

He discovered the answer when he opened the door. Raven was throwing a pillow at Alex whilst Sean and Hank passed a spliff back and forth. Charles lay sprawled on the bed, clutching a bottle.

"Erik!" he said, apparently immune to Erik's glare. "We're celebrating Sean's successful flight. Care to join us?"

Erik considered the logical reaction, and took the bottle instead.


	10. das Wort

**I loved this prompt. _Regenschirm _means umbrella, in case you're wondering, and _Teller _is plate. **

**das Wort (word) **

Erik speaks five languages fluently, but that doesn't preclude him from making mistakes. Sometimes he forgets the words for things – silly, domestic things like _Regenschirm_ and _Teller_ – and then Charles smiles as he struggles to remember.

Sometimes, he speaks German, because Charles likes hearing it. But here, too, there are problems, words he can't say because of what they now mean. Camp. Train.

Erik may be good with words, but he understands that, sometimes, they're not necessary. Charles doesn't, so he's currently struggling to form a sentence, probably about not being drunk enough for plausible deniability.

Erik just kisses him.


	11. Getreideflocken

**Here, have some more domestic fluff. **

**Getreideflocken (cereal)**

It was breakfast. Charles was in pyjamas, Sean asleep over his bowl, and Erik, the only one both awake and properly clothed, wondering where he went wrong. He had envisaged training at Westchester, not Charles heavy-lidded smile as he offered him coffee.

Raven pottered in, her tiny nightshirt making Hank choke, and started arguing with Alex over who ate the last of the cornflakes.

_One of the most powerful mutants I've encountered, squabbling over cereal_, thought Erik at Charles. _You do recall that we're supposed to be stopping Shaw?_

Charles just gave him that same sleepy smile.

_Drink your coffee_.


	12. die Tour

**Drunk Charles is awesome. Just saying. **

**die Tour (trip)**

They've taken to calling it Charles and Erik's Spectacular Round-the-World Mutant-Chasing Road Trip. Well, Charles has, anyway. They've also taken to getting very drunk every other night. They are both aware that neither of these things is, considering the circumstances, justifiable, but they don't care.

There are disappointments, certainly. Mutants who've never discovered their powers, cruel parents, things that remind Erik uncomfortably of the past. But there is also music and glitter and colour and dancing, and the CIA is picking up the tab. Some nights they share drinks. Some nights they share beds.

Charles never wants it to end.


	13. troedeln

**LOOK AWAY NOW, J. **

**This... did not go in quite the direction I was expecting it to go. **

**trödeln (to dawdle)**

They're heading to training when Hank pauses for a shoelace and Alex, unreasonably irritable, says, "Stop dawdling", and oddly enough, that's the final straw. Hank's already taken so much teasing, and he wouldn't have to 'dawdle' if he could show his feet without some arsehole making stupid comments and it's not fucking _fair_—

He breaks Alex's nose on his first swing, surprising them both. And then it's a proper dirty knock-down drag-out fight which only stops when Alex pins him bodily, eyes bright with respect and anger and something else. There's a long, breathless moment in which anything could happen.


	14. die Erregung

**That's it for now; next batch coming... soon. **

**die Erregung (excitement)**

It never quite goes away, the excitement upon encountering another mutant. It's the same thing Charles felt at meeting Raven, that he feels whenever he looks at Erik. The same thing that flung him gasping to his knees when he first used Cerebro: the overwhelming sensation of no longer being alone.

Years later, Charles is bald and wheelchair-bound, Erik far away and endlessly plotting, with Raven – Mystique – and a helmet he never takes off. But even with whatever trouble his erstwhile partner is dreaming up, Charles never stops welcoming students to his school. And the excitement never quite goes away.


	15. flussabwärts

**And so begins the final batch of drabbles. The Riptide pun in this was totally accidental, honest. **

**flussabwärts (downstream)**

Erik is not a man to take the easy way out. From hunting down his former torturers to manipulating metal, painstaking effort is his hallmark. And yet he finds himself lulled into relaxation by Westchester's unhurried luxury. It's as though, after swimming upstream all his life, he's finally gone with the current.

As with everything, though, it's not that simple. There are other currents, too, pulling in other directions: the need to find Shaw, the shifting group dynamics. And lurking like a riptide, ever present, lie Erik's ideological differences with Charles.

And sooner or later, the current has to change.


	16. der Schutz

**God, I hate this one. 100 words was definitely too short to write the story I was going for here. But I'm too lazy to do anything about it, so here you go, internet. **

**der Schutz (protection)**

During their early acquaintance, Charles stopped Erik doing things – fighting two people at once, for instance – because they were dangerous. Erik assumed this was an excuse to protect weak humans from him.

Years, and a painful separation, later, a deranged mutant attacked Erik, too quickly for him to react. He would have died had not the man stopped suddenly, eyes vacant.

"Charles?" said Erik slowly. The man smiled in affirmation, then collapsed.

That day, Erik learned both that Charles truly wanted to protect him, and that whilst leading the mutant fight against humankind was a burden, guilt was a considerably greater one.


	17. geeignet

**I actually like this one, in contrast with the shitness of the previous drabble. Alex appeals to me for some weird reason. **

**geeignet (suitable)**

_You can't take Alex anywhere_, thought Charles, frustrated. With his tendency towards profanity and violence, he wasn't suitable to be around children, old ladies, or anyone with the remotest affinity to good manners. He simply didn't fit in. Raven was an expert at looking like everyone else. Erik had spent most of his life lying low, blending in. Sean could pass for an ordinary student and Hank's scientific enthusiasm needed no disguising. But Alex looked mutinous whenever Charles lectured them about the need to appear normal, and it worried him.

Sometimes, Erik looked at him with just the same expression.


	18. der Humor

**The first line of this is possibly my favourite line I've ever written, and sort of demands a fic in its own right. Maybe one day... **

**der Humor (humour) **

The latest mutant-recruiting trip had gone badly, to the tune of Charles and Erik being hunted through the grounds of a Soviet mental facility by the KGB.

"Quickly!" hissed Erik. "If we can get over this wall—"

Charles was already scrambling up. They reached the top just as their pursuers rushed beneath.

"Well done, my friend," murmured Charles. Then they leapt down the other side of the wall. Directly into a bog.

"Shit," said Charles, at precisely the instant Erik said, "_Scheisse_". Then they both burst out laughing.

Their good humour lasted until they realised they were totally lost.


	19. verzweifelt

**Oh hey, look, finally, some slash. It's only the penultimate drabble, after all. **

**verzweifelt (desperate)**

Erik has experienced desperation many times before: the sensation of having your fate inextricably bound to that of another, of helplessness in the face of terrible possibilities. He never expected it to feel it now, in a bar at midnight, with Charles flirting shamelessly beside him. His cheeks are flushed pink, hair dishevelled, lips a glorious red. He's nothing like drunk as he's pretending, the bastard, his eyes bright with mischief. Erik has never felt as trapped, as _desperate_ as at this moment, powerless to resist the man leaning into him, despite the knowledge that the consequences will be tragic.


	20. der Holzhammer

**And to end the series, some domestic fluff in which I get far too fond of the 'Sean is a stoner' fanon, and Charles regrets leaving Erik to babysit the others. Thanks very much for the comments and favourites, and I hope everyone's enjoyed reading these little slices of story as much as I've enjoyed writing them. :) **

**Fact 1: Writing drabbles based off German words totally counts as educational. **

**Fact 2: Writing drabbles also counts as practise in getting your schoolwork in below the word count. **

**Therefore: Everyone should write more drabbles, preferably based off German words. Get to it, guys. **

**das Holzhammer (mallet) **

Charles returned from an overnight trip to find Erik breaking into the bunker with a mallet.

"I'll admit this isn't the most architecturally inspiring location, but I wasn't aware you'd taken such a dislike to it, Erik."

Erik turned with an expression of either fury or panic.

"Alex locked himself in. Said something about practice." No, it was definitely panic. "Things are on fire."

"Well—"

"Also, Sean's turned the kitchen into a drugs factory and I don't know what Hank and Raven are doing in the laboratory, but I doubt it's scientific research."

"I—"

"Just never leave again."


End file.
